WELCOME TO SHRED DEER, ‘AIR’BERTA!

Travy McFly for the win but Shred Gnarly for the journey!

Shred GnarlyTravy McFly

Thursday June 1st started out like any other for the unsuspecting city of Red Deer, but by the end of the day, nothing would ever be the same again. Bo’s Bar and Stage was the setting for the showdown of the year. Could returning champion Sista Fista retain her crown and head of to Toronto for another crack at the National title? Or would a new hero rise up? Nine competitors in total hit the stage and over 100 people turned out to be entertained, most not knowing what exactly to expect.

The competitors battled hard, but once the dust had settled only one remained… Presenting your NEW Red Deer regional champion… Travis “Travy McFly” Young!! The Vice-Champion “Shred Gnarly” in second place, and in the first ever Honorary 3rd place spot winning the “Hand Solo” award was Sista Fista!

Sista Fista

And in a turn of events, due to schedule conflicts “Travy Mcfly” will not be able to fulfil his duties as Champion and represent Shred Deer at Nationals. So in his place, Battling it out in Toronto this July 15th at the Mod Club will the runner up SHRED GNARLY! Travy is still the champion and is already planning to defend his title next year. And being the awesome man that he is, he insisted that he was the one to tell Shred the news that he would be going. Helluva guy.

Capturing the night in video was a good friend of Kaje ‘Sister Fista’ Annihalatrix – Jevin MacKenzie and RAB BOD Productions. Have a watch of the event.

First up on the Bo’s stage was Brave Soul Juicy Johnson with Motley Crues Kickstart my heart. Next up returning from his 5th place finish last year was Stoney Goldwin with his guitar smashing rendition of Slo Burns song Pilot the Dune.

Mickey D was up next shredding Iron Man by Black Sabbath.

Then came the Sharpest dressed man in the entire place Brave Soul entrant Travy Mcfly who we called the Tax Man all night because he looked so good. Travy wowed the judges with he moves to Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl.

Last minute sign up Young Angus duck walked his way through AC/DC’s Thunderstruck.

First timer Amanda J was up next to take the stage with Janis Joplins Piece of my Heart.

Then came Steamy Hot who was basically just at the bar to celebrate a baseball game and had no idea what was going on came up and did an awesome job with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers classic Give it Away.

The next competitor “Shred Gnarly” was discovered playing air guitar at a Banger Bingo Show in the Basement of the Renfrew community center in Calgary. In a bold statement he played the most infamous air guitar song there is, Play With Me by Extreme! C- Diddy would be proud.

And finishing of the first round was returning Champion Sista Fista showing off her completely bad ass set of demon wings. She pulled out a crazy good metal cover of Wind Beneath my Wings!

The top 5 that advanced to the Compulsory round and move one step close to the Grande prize were from 5th to 1st… Juicy Johnson (15.9), Young Angus (16.7),Travy Mcfly (17.3), Sista Fista (17.4), and leading the pack was Shred Gnarly (17.6).

This year’s Compulsory Song was revealed to be a guitar solo cover of Madonnas hit Like A Prayer and one by one they hit the stage and did their best with the awkward tune. They all did amazing but it was Travy McFly who ended up making the biggest impact on the judges, especially with his back flip off of the cat walk onto the floor which rocketed him into the lead and won him the gold! The traditional playing of Keep on Rocking in the Free World was played and TIGERMILK hit the stage to close out yet another successful night of Air Guitar in Shred Deer Air-Berta!

Thanks to all the judges, the sponsors (Collective Arts Brewing, Panago, Banger Bingo), and all the competitors. Thanks to you and the crowd that come to cheer on the fun, we raised a nice sum for our charity – The Red Deer Suicide Prevention Hotline. Our boy Joel would be proud.

Keep on Rocking in the Free World and cheer on Shred Gnarly at Nationals. Follow all the fun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.